Excellent Experience Buying Inks Directly From P W Akkerman.

[hari317]

I wrote directly to Mr. Paul Rutte: paulrutte@vulpennen.nl inquiring about their inks.

Promptly, I received a VAT free quote from Mr. Yelle Ang, with relevant shipping charges etc.

The perfectly packed carton arrived within 5 days in India and customarily sat for over a week in customs. Total time of delivery to me was say 15days.

I bought three bottles of ink shipped to India. 13.64EUR per bottle plus flat 20Eur shipping, making a total of 61Euro for three bottles shipped. It worked out to 81.4USD making the cost just a little over 27USD shipped for a 150ml bottle of ink.

I would buy directly from them again.

Hope this information helps.

Best

Hari

Edited August 28, 2013 by hari317

[theadityajain]

Which colors did you bought?

You are quite lucky, every thing you buy goes smoothly with customs.

Don't know why my every package from Japanese sellers (mainly engeika), Malaysia & UK gets delivered saftely many times without any duties but the ones from Europe & US gets opened by customs very often and are never received in perfect condition. I purchased two bottles of Akkerman inks some time ago but never received them, got a letter from customs asking a license for import. (screenshot from ipsweb) Some days later, after many phones calls they agreed to release it but I got an package with some rubbish packing material in it. No inks. Anyways there wasn't any problem with Akkerman guys they were (& are) nice guys.

[hari317]

Which colors did you bought?

You are quite lucky, every thing you buy goes smoothly with customs.

Don't know why my every package from Japanese sellers (mainly engeika), Malaysia & UK gets delivered saftely many times without any duties but the ones from Europe & US gets opened by customs very often and are never received in perfect condition. I purchased two bottles of Akkerman inks some time ago but never received them, got a letter from customs asking a license for import. (screenshot from ipsweb) Some days later, after many phones calls they agreed to release it but I got an package with some rubbish packing material in it. No inks. Anyways there wasn't any problem with Akkerman guys they were (& are) nice guys.

I bought #10. #3 and #13 were for a friend, we pooled.

 

Well this is OT to the thread as we are discussing how easy it is to buy inks directly from Akkerman and not about our Indian customs and problems, but yes, my package was also opened by Customs and was resealed by them very carefully with customs marked packing tape and rope and wax seal. I was levied approx 13% duty on the invoice value. I have had EMS articles also detained by customs so I am not unnaturally lucky, if that helps. I just don't talk about the lossy episodes, that's all.

 

The Mumbai Foreign Post office is at Ballard Pier and if you received a pilfered package, you must report it, I am sorry to hear about your loss.

Edited August 28, 2013 by hari317

[theadityajain]

I bought #10. #3 and #13 were for a friend, we pooled.

 

Well this is OT to the thread as we are discussing how easy it is to buy inks directly from Akkerman and not about our Indian customs and problems, but yes, my package was also opened by Customs and was resealed by them very carefully with customs marked packing tape and rope and wax seal. I was levied approx 13% duty on the invoice value. I have had EMS articles also detained by customs so I am not unnaturally lucky, if that helps. I just don't talk about the lossy episodes, that's all.

 

The Mumbai Foreign Post office is at Ballard Pier and if you received a pilfered package, you must report it, I am sorry to hear about your loss.

Sorry if I went OT.

As I said it was nothing to do with Akkerman people.

I reported it but in vain, all they told is to complain to India Post and then nothing happened.

Anyways won't go off topic further.

If you would order any in future I would be very glad if you club a few for me. I am located at a small town in Chhattisgarh, being in Mumbai is certainly sometimes a plus point easing many things.

[Drone]

This is great news. Did you get some sort of tracking number and if so, did the shipment track to the end destination? I'm in Jakarta and without a tracking number it is almost 100% guaranteed the shipment will disappear once it hits Indonesia.

 

If PW Ackerman direct provides reliable tracking then that would be ideal. Otherwise I have a friend who works in the Hague, maybe he'll forward me some bottles. But I'd rather not bother him.

[hari317]

This is great news. Did you get some sort of tracking number and if so, did the shipment track to the end destination? I'm in Jakarta and without a tracking number it is almost 100% guaranteed the shipment will disappear once it hits Indonesia.

 

If PW Ackerman direct provides reliable tracking then that would be ideal. Otherwise I have a friend who works in the Hague, maybe he'll forward me some bottles. But I'd rather not bother him.

 

They provided me with a tracking number. The package was fully tracked on both Post NL as well as India post track website right upto delivery. They sent the item by what is classified as parcel post here in India. 13 digit track no starts with C**********NL

 

HTH.

 

Hari

[Scrawler]

This is great news. Did you get some sort of tracking number and if so, did the shipment track to the end destination? I'm in Jakarta and without a tracking number it is almost 100% guaranteed the shipment will disappear once it hits Indonesia.

 

If PW Ackerman direct provides reliable tracking then that would be ideal. Otherwise I have a friend who works in the Hague, maybe he'll forward me some bottles. But I'd rather not bother him.

I have organized several group buys directly from PW Akkerman and have 5 bottles of their ink myself. I found them fast, efficient and reliable. Their packaging is exemplary and secure. All the problems mentioned in this thread relate to larcenous and dishonest mail handlers. Though I cannot imagine what a thief in the post office would want with bottles of ink. By the standards of Indian currency, US$27 per bottle is very expensive and a lot to lose. I have never been to India, so I do not know how larcenous the average person is, but I have seen first hand, in Indonesia, that your fingers are not safe if you are wearing rings.

[hari317]

I have organized several group buys directly from PW Akkerman and have 5 bottles of their ink myself. I found them fast, efficient and reliable. Their packaging is exemplary and secure. All the problems mentioned in this thread relate to larcenous and dishonest mail handlers. Though I cannot imagine what a thief in the post office would want with bottles of ink. By the standards of Indian currency, US$27 per bottle is very expensive and a lot to lose. I have never been to India, so I do not know how larcenous the average person is, but I have seen first hand, in Indonesia, that your fingers are not safe if you are wearing rings.

Yes, their packing is excellent. There are some thefts and thieves in every postal service.

 

In India, IME, sometimes the last leg in the delivery chain may be a problem depending on the delivery state/location. Theft redress is very tedious and many people quit chasing the case, but you can skin them if you are of the chasing type.